Oh yes!
For my birthday, b/f bought us both Kayaks...he loves it! I am quite keen and its nice to have something we do together. We have been out a few times by ourselves, but this weekend we thought Tommy should come with us - after all, we did buy him a buoyancy aid for that reason!
We set off quite late - the normal Saturday stuff had got in the way of an earlier start unfortunately. We went off to Paglesham as we needed somewhere close. Tommy was very excited as we loaded the Kayaks on the car. He had seen us do this a few times now, and had been desperate to see where we take the 'heavy plastic that smells of stuff'. He jumped in the car before we had finished loading - he wasn't missing out this time!
We arrived at the place where we were launching and started to unload. Tommy was tail wagging and looking at us in an expectant manner. We put his buoyancy aid on. His tail went to a half wag. And then we took everything towards the quay. He was trotting along, looking all round and seemed happy enough. Then we got to the slip way. This had big gaps in between the wood which Tommy wasn't keen on walking on, but with some persuasion, we carried on. Then the kayaks in the water. Then b/f passed down Tommy to sit with me. I paddled away from the quay and he seemed quite happy.
B/f followed soon after and Tommy decided to see what b/f kayak was like - he dove in and swam across. The best bit about a dog buoyancy aid is they have a handy handle on the back to pull him out of the water with! B/f kept Tommy with him for about 3 minutes, then Tommy swam back to me! Then back to b/f and then back to me again! I'm not sure if he was enjoying it or if it was to see if we were both insane for being in heavy smelly plastic!
Once he'd settled with me, we paddled along for a while. No where far as it was Tommys' first outing. Tommy seemed quite desperate at times to go back to shore, but all in all, once he'd settled he seemed quite happy. In fact, after we'd been out for about 3/4 of an hour, he curled up by my feet and went to sleep.
I think he would benefit from having somewhere dry to sit, without the spray decks, water does come into the kayak. But the swimming between the kayaks must be great exercise for him! I hope next time he is more settled. He will be a 'all action' dog if it's the last thing we do.
